Friday, May 13, 2011

Wal-Mart Closes on Superstore in Chatham Market


Wal-Mart Stores Inc. closed last month on the sale of a piece of land on Chicago’s South Side where it plans to build a long-anticipated 155,000-square-foot supercenter.

The world’s largest retailer paid about $10 million for the 13.5 acre parcel at the Chatham Market shopping center at the corner of 83rd Street and South Holland Road, according to a person close to the deal. The store is slated to open next year.

Wal-Mart also agreed to lease an existing 10,000-square-foot building at Chatham Market for a Walmart Express store, a convenience grocery format that is the first of its kind for the big-box retailer. Jones Lang LaSalle brokered the deals for the shopping center owner Monroe Investment Partners LLC.


Jones Lang LaSalle has closed the sale of a 13.5-acre parcel on Chicago’s South Side on behalf of Monroe Investment Partners LLC . Walmart purchased the shovel-ready pad in the Chatham Market shopping center on 83rd Street and S. Holland Road, where it plans to open a 155,000-square-foot Supercenter.

Less than a year after Wal-Mart won approval of plans to build a 150,000-square-foot supercenter in the Chatham neighborhood, the company also was planning to build a 10,000-square-foot convenience store less than two blocks away.

Wal-Mart will open a Wal-Mart Express store in an existing 10,000-square-foot building just east of a Potbelly sandwich shop at the corner of 83rd Street and Holland Drive.



It would be Wal-Mart’s smallest format store yet, about the size of most 7-Eleven stores and would carry similar grocery items as most typical convenience stores.



The store would be located less than two blocks from a planned Supercenter in Chatham.



Last July, the City Council signed off on plans to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood. When completed next year, it would be the city’s third Wal-Mart, along with its existing store in the Austin neighborhood, and a store slated to open in the Pullman neighborhood next year.



The Wal-Mart Express planned for Chatham would be the second small WalTwo years earlier, the City Council used zoning laws to block the company from building at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue. The company closed the sale for the 13.5-acre parcel at the Chatham Market shopping center on Monday, according to a source close to the deal. A Walmart Express is scheduled to open this summer and a 155,000-square-foot supercenter will follow next spring, according to a company release.


The Chatham Market is a 450,000-square-foot shopping center that is already home to a Lowe’s Home Improvement store, a Potbelly’s Sandwich Shop, and an Aldi grocery store that is under construction and scheduled to open June 1.


“Walmart’s commitment to this major power center, with both a Supercenter and an Express store, will be a major boon to consumers on Chicago’s South Side,” said Kirschbraun, in a released statement. “Construction of the
Supercenter is expected to get underway by late-April and the store is expected to be open by the end of 2011 or early 2012. Beyond the initial construction jobs, the new stores will create hundreds of permanent jobs for Chicago residents. Considering this, along with new sales and property taxes for the City.”


Chatham Market is located on the site of the former Ryerson Steel facility covering 50 acres between 83rd and 87th Streets just west of the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94). The Walmart Supercenter will be centrally located on the site adjacent to Lowe’s and will feature a full grocery department. The Walmart Express will operate in an existing building at the 83rd Street entrance to Chatham Market, and will offer a limited line of groceries as well as pharmacy services.

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